Atlantic Eye: As The Cookies Crumble

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko -- the leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution, poisoned and disfigured by his enemies, a darling of the West -- is not-so-surprisingly ousted in the first round of presidential elections by two pro-Russian candidates -- one more corrupt than the other.
The Orange Revolution -- which should have brought Ukraine a democracy and free-market economy, closer to NATO and the European Union -- is all but dead.Yushchenko succumbed to his own arrogance failing to make the runoff for president and leaving the field to the ever corrupt Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her equally corrupt predecessor Viktor Yanukovych.In 2005 Yanukovych, who had nearly stolen the disputed presidential elections through ballot stuffing before the Ukrainian Supreme Court threw out the results, was forced into a rerun won at that time by Yushchenko.Tymoshenko, one of Yushchenko's allies, was always the power behind the throne. Not to be underestimated and with an ego the size of Jupiter, Tymoshenko slowly took the reins of power around her and forced herself to be appointed Yushchenko's prime minister.Yushchenko would have been better off remaining Ukraine's Central Bank governor where he was actually doing an outstanding job.Tymoshenko became a billionaire in the early days through dubious business dealings.Yanukovych is a convicted criminal and former Soviet apparatchik.Nonetheless, in this choice between cholera and typhus -- and I know both -- I go with Yanukovych.